Client Services / Employee Benefits / Employee Benefits Litigation

Employee Benefits Litigation

McDermott Will & Emery’s Employee Benefits/ERISA Group has extensive experience in a wide variety of litigation and administrative proceedings involving employee benefit plans.  Our Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) litigation practice was ranked in the 2010 issue of Chambers USA, which stated, “This firm has a long-standing commitment to ERISA litigation and maintains a high profile in the area.  In addition to a stellar team of litigators, clients also benefit from the expertise of a large group of ERISA generalists.”  We regularly represent employers as plan sponsors and plan administrators, as well as individual and corporate fiduciaries and service providers, in both routine and complex employee benefits litigation.  We are approved by numerous fiduciary liability carriers to provide defense for their insureds.  In addition to litigating employee benefits cases, we counsel large and small companies and fiduciaries in anticipation of litigation about employee benefits issues.

We have lawyers with significant experience in handling employee benefits class action litigation in courts throughout the United States.  These lawyers are full-time litigators with solid procedural and substantive experience in benefits litigation, not benefits lawyers dragged into litigation or litigators who occasionally handle a benefits case.  In handling benefits litigation, we work closely with our Employee Benefits Group, which has more than 60 lawyers focused solely on this area in one of the largest employee benefits practices in the United States.

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS LITIGATION EXPERIENCE 
 The following matters handled by members of our Employee Benefits Litigation Group demonstrate our depth of experience, the variety of our clients, the complexity and range of issues we litigate, our geographic scope of experience and our record of success.  These are all important factors in selecting counsel for benefits litigation and for advice on litigation sensitive matters.

Fiduciary Duty Cases

  • Defend fiduciaries and administrators of 401(k) plans after adverse business developments affected the value of company stock and other assets in the plan
  • Defend plan sponsors and fiduciaries in employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) lawsuits after company stock declines and bankruptcies
  • Defend plan fiduciaries and administrators in lawsuits over "blackout periods"
  • Defended an international oil company in a class action claiming breach of fiduciary duty in implementing a “paperless” telephone system for administering a 33,000-participant 401(k) plan; case resolved by a nominal settlement after we defeated class certification in federal court in Texas
  • Defended a class action challenging the exclusion of certain pay from pension calculations for 18,000 retirees; the plan administrator’s position was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in a decision reversing an adverse district court ruling which could have cost $125 million in claimed benefits
  • Defended a large utility company in a Michigan class action challenging its exclusion of independent contractors and leased employees from participation in various benefit programs
  • Litigated on behalf of a large pension plan against an insurance company responsible for the investment of pension plan assets and negotiated a favorable settlement of the claims, including transfer of plan assets to another insurance company
  • Defended a corporate fiduciary in a class action claiming a breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the timing of lump sum distributions under a profit-sharing plan
  • Defended the retirement plan of a health services provider in a class action challenging the plan design and administration which excluded the value of a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) from lump sum calculations of retirement benefits; negotiated a favorable settlement reducing a US$60 million exposure to US$15 million
  • Defended an insurance company plan in federal court in New Jersey in a case concerning an adjustment in plan asset values resulting in a decrease in participant benefits
  • Negotiated a $100 million transfer of excess funds for a Texas utility client with an overfunded life insurance program frozen by an insurance company
  • Represent banking institutions against breach of fiduciary duty claims in connection with their services as trustees of trusts created for the investment of pension plan assets
  • Defended investment managers against allegations of breaches of fiduciary duties in the investment of plan assets
  • Defended a trustee of a union health and welfare fund and pension fund against claims of breaches of fiduciary duties in connection with the management of the funds and investments of plan assets
  • Litigated on behalf of a large pension fund against a bank, claiming breaches of fiduciary duties and prohibited transactions in the administration and management of plan real estate investments
  • Represented trustees who purchase annuity contracts from failed insurance companies against allegations of breaches of fiduciary duty
  • Defended trustees in a class action case filed by union employees challenging the benefits effects of a Pittsburgh area plant closing; the federal court in Pittsburgh dismissed the claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal
  • Represented trustees of retirement plans and benefit plans sponsored by a wide array of employers ranging from financial services companies to a supermarket chain in suits alleging breaches of fiduciary duties concerning treatment of individual participants
  • Litigated on behalf of a trustee against co-fiduciaries, who were members of a plan administrative committee, for their failure to make timely and reasonable efforts to collect delinquent employer contributions to the plan

Health Benefits Cases

  • Represented an insurance company in a nationwide class action in federal court in San Francisco concerning changes in qualifications for agent health benefits
  • Defended an international mining and paper-making equipment manufacturer over termination of retiree medical benefits with a US$98 million liability; the federal court ruled in favor of the company on summary judgment
  • Defended a meat packer in a declaratory judgment action against a union and a defendant class of retirees concerning the right to amend or terminate more than $100 million in retiree health benefits; won at trial in Sioux Falls and in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
  • Defended an insurance company in a nationwide class action in connection with the modification of retiree medical benefits for agents and employees; defeated the class claims on summary judgment and the plaintiffs’ individual claims at trial and on appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • Negotiated a nominal settlement of a class action filed in federal court in Indiana by policyholders of hospital and nursing home insurance against their health insurance company and a St. Louis bank as master trustee
  • Represented an auto parts manufacturer as plaintiff in a declaratory judgment action in federal court in Philadelphia against the UAW and a defendant class of retirees in Ohio and Pennsylvania concerning retiree health benefits; reached an agreement to reduce the benefits from a value of $90 million to $40 million
  • Defended an insurance company in a class action on behalf of its retirees challenging changes in retiree health insurance; negotiated an agreed class definition and won a summary judgment motion on all claims, which was affirmed on appeal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • Advised plan administrators on the use of claim and appeal procedures after reductions of benefits

Plan Termination Cases

  • Represented the pension plan of a bank holding company and its subsidiaries in a class action over entitlement to surplus assets
  • Represented plan participants in a class action filed by a health care company interpleading plan assets in connection with termination of the plan
  • Defended a manufacturing company in an employee class action over the residual assets of a terminating pension plan; during the appeal of an adverse trial court ruling, negotiated a Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation-approved settlement for the company, keeping most of the residual assets
  • Challenged an assessment of withdrawal liability under the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendment Act (MPPAA) upon sale of a company’s assets, resulting in a favorable ruling by the Seventh Circuit
  • Defended a “parent” company against claims of the MPPAA obligations of a bankrupt affiliate in federal court in New York, with a prompt settlement for a fraction of the amount claimed

Severance Pay Cases

  • Representing an international manufacturing company in a class action brought by a union over employees’ entitlement to severance benefits in connection with sale of company
  • Represented an international electrical manufacturing company in numerous lawsuits in different federal courts brought by former employees seeking benefits under a change of control separation plan; won all cases on summary judgment
  • Represented a health services provider in connection with class actions over entitlement to severance benefits stemming from the company's divestiture of various divisions

ESOP Cases

  • Defended the bank trustee of the United States’ third largest ESOP in a class action alleging breaches of fiduciary duties in the creation of the ESOP and in voting at director elections; case settled with no contribution by the trustee
  • Represented ESOP administrators and trustees of an international shipping company in connection with the public and private sale of stock
  • Advised an employer and ESOP trustee on a claims and appeals process after the adoption of significant restrictions on distributions from the plan
  • Represented the ESOP trustee of an airline’s plan in federal court in Washington, D.C., regarding decisions on behalf of the shares held by the ESOP in a tender offer
  • Advised ESOP fiduciaries and fiduciaries of other plans in connection with voting and other shareholder functions relating to allocated and unallocated shares held by the plans
  • Represented and counseled ESOP trustees in litigation between employee shareholders and management, where the ESOP trustee is not a named defendant, but ESOP administration is an issue

Contacts

Employee Benefits Client Services

McDermott Will & Emery

McDermott Will and Emery